He Loves Us.

We had an incredible Good Friday service this year. I was so touched in a new way by the sacrifice Jesus made for us and the love of the Father to lay down the life of His one and only Son for me.... I couldn't stop the tears as I sat in the service. When we got home, Matthew and I put the kids to bed and he told me he had a clip he wanted me to watch. I watched it. Here it is.

It was incredible. Still gets me every time I watch it. It's 8 minutes long..but worth every second. It's a simple song about the love of the Father for us, but something so fresh and new penetrated my heart as I watched it...or as I cried through it. :) I pray that you too would experience in a new and fresh way the indescribable love of our Father for YOU!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JoC1ec-lYps

A Message for Housermania!

You'd think after over three years of our dearest friends moving away..we'd get over it!! NOT THE CASE!!! I still manage to get teary eyed quite often..and I'm not a crier! :)

We sure do miss you Housermania, you all truly have a very special place in our hearts.

Here's a message the kids recorded for you: "WE LOVE YOU HOUSERMANIA, WE WISH YOU WERE HERE!!" My thoughts exactly.

Mother's Day 2009

Just wanted to share with you all the Mother's Day video Matthew and the kids made for me this year. Super special!

Summer Crafts.

You know that feeling you get when you do something really fun with your kids? That joy that fills your heart? You just want to shout from a mountaintop.."I'm a fun Mom!" :) Well, anytime I do hands-on crafts with my kiddos I get that feeling. We have such a great time together. This summer has been packed with lots of summer crafting. I just wanted to take a minute to show you some of the stuff we've been doing..homemade green slime, rock painting, ice cream pinwheels, chocolate covered bananas, flag berry cake, edible pudding paint..fun! And I just gotta say that I've suprised myself by the kindness and gentleness I've shown during our time together..I could get way stressed out by the arguing over who gets to stir the paint, or who gets to do the sprinkles first..or when green slime gets on somebody's brand new shirt..but instead I remind them that Jesus is watching our attitudes, including Mamma's! Plus..why spend all that time trying to make a fun memory and then ruin it by turning into "Mean Mamma"??! :) Not worth it..I say!! And a big shout-out to my dear friend, Shipra. She's been the inspiration behind all this craftiness! :) Shipra started an art-blog for homeschoolers called The Wednesday Gallery.We've LOVED being a part...and you can too! Come check it out!

Still smiling...

Here's our Anna. Smiling Anna. Happy Anna. Really, for the most part she usually has a smile on her face. Last night I was sound asleep when I felt this burning sensation on my arm. I bolted up out of bed and there was sweet Anna. "Mamma, I'm hot". I could tell in an instant that yes, indeed..SHE WAS HOT! I ran to grab the trusty thermometer and sure enough she had a raging fever of 103.4. :( Can I just say...I don't like fevers. I know all that stuff about how they're really great because they're fighting infection and everything, but I still don't like them. I usually get an instant tightness in my tummy and any desire to eat quickly vanishes as soon as one of my kids gets a fever. Compassion?..fear?...whatever it is..it's no fun and always accompanies my kids fevers. Well, this afternoon the fever was down to 100.5, so I laid off the tylenol for a couple of hours and the kiddos had rest time. Then along came Anna.."Mamma, I'm hot"..sure enough..fever. 105! Yikes!! I called one of my dear nurse friends. She gave me some good advice..now the fever is down and hopefully she's through this super quick! We have lots of friends praying for our sweet girl and guess what...?...she's still smiling!! :)